War & Peace Series | August 2022


War & Peace Series | 15 - 20 August 2022 | Oxford

Critical Deliberations on Peacebuilding, Memory, and Narrative

Held at Merton College, University of Oxford


War, when understood as an intractable human constant, can often be demoralizing. Yet, there is much to celebrate in successful peacebuilding endeavors, strategic moral diplomacy, and the resilience of the human spirit. Join us for an interactive week in Oxford with faculty and practitioners. This workshop is particularly beneficial to prepare for trauma-informed fieldwork in conflict areas.


The study of war and peace at the University of Oxford dates back to the 1500s, with notable contributions to just war thinking and the ethics of war. This seminar will address new challenges linked to global health, women in war, developments in peace technology, the environment, forced migration, violent non-state groups, and the role of economic justice.

All workshops incorporate for our global women's narratives project with themes of religion, war and peace, health, identity, gendered violence, and life's work. We will explore the agency of women—how they participate in their conflicts—and the role of inter-generational trauma in intractable conflicts across time. Our August 2022 seminar features new interactive sessions created by our Fellows on the practice of moral courage, international humanitarian law, and art and poetry in conflict zones.

Workshop participants receive a certificate of our Duty of Care training in trauma-sensitive narrative and interviewing techniques initially created by the Oxford Initiative with Lumiere Health International—a nonprofit focused on clinical psychology, refugee asylum, and human rights interviews.

The daily schedule is generally 9:00 am to 3:45 pm, with one evening session and one afternoon free to tour Oxford.


Images above: Dr. Lyn Boyd-Judson, OI Board member Asil Sidahmed, Advocacy Strategy for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Julia Amos of Oxford's War and Peace Network, International Human Rights Association at New College, Oxford, Fellow Damian Gorman, and attendees from the University of Southern California, University of Michigan, Wellesley College, Claremont College, and Estácio de Sá University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.